CHAPTER 129: BURTON IS INFESTED

Once the Marquis was on his feet, the group started to move, and the Natural Sons provided covering fire for them until they were needed to defend the wall.

The Royal Guard pushed toward the Keep, where the Marquis personal guards were surrounding the building, keeping it locked down. Nobody was coming in or out, and Dominic could see staff being turned back into the Keep, presumably to keep any suspects present if some sort of sabotage was found.

"Get the healer for the Marquis. He has been wounded, and will need extended treatment." Princess Alexis ordered.

The Keep staff scrambled while Princess Alexis led the way up to the strategy room. She kicked the door open, venting frustration, but then found herself facing a very startled butler with a magitech camera in his hands.

"You have no idea how fucked you are." Dominic informed the butler.

The man turned and lunged for the window.

That wouldn’t save him, it was ten stories from the ground. But it would be a quick end.

So, Princess Alexis blocked it with an Area Barrier.

"See, what did I tell you?" Dominic sighed, feigning sympathy.

Then, he picked up the camera, which had been forgotten in the man’s desperate escape attempt.

"I will inspect this, or turn it over to one of the Techno Wizards to examine and see what all he was trying to get images of." Dominic informed the Princess.

Then Dominic looked at the map and realized that it had all been changed. None of what was there was the plan that he was familiar with, and none of it matched the actual deployment of the soldiers on the line.

It also didn’t have any markers for the mages with the magitech orbs.

He had a lot to learn about subterfuge and secret keeping. He hadn’t even considered that the Princess might have rearranged the deployment map and changed all the troop numbers before she had left the room.

Normally, when they retired for the night, they put everything away and rebuilt it from the morning reports.

But, in the spirit of the moment, he took a blanket off the chair and lay it over the table while the guards pulled the spy to his feet.

Once the traitor was gone and the area was deemed secure, swept of magitech devices that might be relaying their communications, and not hiding any traps or bombs, Dominic slumped on the sofa, while Alexis leaned back in the office chair and put her boots on the table.

"What a mess. I have no idea how they got so many infiltrators into the city in advance, and into positions of trust. This feels like they have been planning the invasion for years, and only acted now because they were sure that they could succeed." She muttered.

"I wouldn’t say that it was impossible. When they took Wavemates, they hit the entire nation in the matter of two days. A blitz attack that conquered the rural areas of the nation faster than the capital fell, and Kinewen didn’t have a city wall." Dominic replied.

There was a commotion in the hallway, followed by silence, and Dominic opened the door to see what was happening.

The maid who had been assigned to his rooms in the tower was there with a cart of food and a fresh bandage on her arm.

"What happened? Should we call a healer?" He asked.

The maid gave him a sad look. "There isn’t one left to call. Last year, when I was hired, the Marquess brought in a whole group of new staff. Most of them turned on the Marquis an hour ago.

The healers are dead, most of the staff are dead, and the Marquess has been assassinated. The Marquis is being attended to by his sons, who were at the west wall until a few minutes ago."

"Where were you during the attack? I need to piece together what happened." Dominic asked.

"I was in the kitchen, then I was assigned to deliver lunch to the airship docks, but I was turned back. The guards took it to them directly. After that, I returned to the kitchens, and found one of the cooks going insane with a sword.

I was cut and then ran to get the guards.

But when we got back, most of the kitchen staff were either injured or dead, and the crazy man had been killed with a kitchen knife.

The head chef bandaged me and most of the others up, and I learned everything else secondhand. Between the attack and now, I didn’t leave the kitchen until we heard that Her Highness was back. I’m in better shape than most, so I am bringing her meal."

Dominic nodded. "Come in, then. I assume the guards have checked you?"

The maid blushed and nodded, while the Guard at the kitchen lift’s end of the hallway gave Dominic a wink.

Well, that was interesting news. But not his business, as long as the search still got done correctly.

Dominic cleansed the food, and the maid smiled at him as she poison tested it, then left the room. She would wait outside for a few minutes, just in case it was slow acting, but Dominic wasn’t expecting more problems from the kitchen now that the traitors had outed themselves.

At least, no more problems today.

After a few minutes, they began to eat, while the Princess stared at the closed door.

"You know, the Marquis will be completely useless from this point on. With half his staff gone, and his wife murdered, he’s going to be somewhere between mental chaos and depression for months.

You’re going to have to earn your keep as an advisor because we no longer have another trained second opinion in the room."

She spoke softly but resolutely, and Dominic nodded gravely at the implication. Not just for the future, but for right now. There was still an assault on the walls happening, and they should be catching up on the reports.

"Guardsman, where is our signal reader? We need updates from the walls." Dominic called once they were finished eating.

"Waiting in the other room. The Butler knocked him out with a strike to the head and dumped him in the Marquis’ bedroom. We found him during the clearance search." Colonel Wilkes announced.

"Perfect, bring him in."